The Commercial Appeal - Go Memphis
TIME WARP’ AGAIN
DUSK-TO-DAWN DRIVE-IN CULT CINEMA RETURNS FOR 3RD SEASON
When the Summer Drive-in opened its gates 50 years ago this September, among the four films on its two screens was a romantic comedy with Doris Day and Rod Taylor titled “The Glass Bottom Boat.”
Such a conveyance would have been handy this past rainy weekend, when the drive-in had to close due to flooding from the adjacent Wolf River, which submerged traffic lanes on the edges of what a 1966 newspaper advertisement trumpeted as the outdoor theater’s “23 Paved Acres — No Gravel, No Dust or Mud.”
Rain doesn’t matter at such “hardtop” cinemas as the Paradiso or the Ridgeway, but the Summer Avenue drive-in — which expanded from a Twin to a Quartet in 1985 — offers what local filmmaker Mike Mccarthy calls “free range cinema.” The open air, the weather and the mix of privacy and community (you can cocoon in your car, sit in folding chairs on the asphalt or wander around and socialize) are part of the appeal.
“Unlike a movie theater or even watching in your own home, the drive-in experience can be customized,” said Matt Martin, owner of Black Lodge Video. “The situation invites movie lovers to take in the film on their own when they want to, but also to interact with others.”
No movie program encourages these options with as much enthusiasm as the “Time Warp DriveIn” series, which begins its third season Saturday (yes, the waters have receded) with a night devoted to the “Dark Urban Worlds” of director Martin Scorsese.
The brainchild of movie mavens Martin and McCarthy, “Time Warp” offers monthly programs of dusk-to-dawn cult and/ or classic cinema, from Rrated shockfests to familyfriendly favorites. (Films on this year’s schedule range from the 1970 satanic hippie chiller “I Drink Your Blood” to the Olivia Newton-john musical “Xanadu.”)
The movies generally are chosen by the two M’s, in collaboration with film booker Jeff Kaufman of Malco Theaters Inc., the companythatownsandoperates the Summer Quartet.
“Time Warp” quadruple bills typically focus on such drive-in-associated genres as rock-and-roll and kungfu cinema, or showcase the work of a great director, like Stanley Kubrick. These latter “auteur nights” have proved to be some of the most popular “Time Warp” events. “It just goes to show that both young and old recognize a master when they see one,” said Martin (who hopes to have Black Lodge Video back in business at a new Midtown location later this year).
The feature films often are only part of the show. “Time Warp” movies often are complemented by pre-showtime live music concerts; interactive promotions (“baptism by popcorn” was offered last year); and shorts by local filmmakers, presented under the MUFF (Memphis Underground Film Festival) brand. During this year’s “Time Warp” screenings, Mccarthy, a longtime moviemaker whose Memphicentric features include “Teenage Tupelo” and “Cigarette Girl,” will introduce his latest work, “Waif,” a sci-fi serial that will be presented a chapter at a time beginning in April.
When it was launched three years ago, the “Time Warp Drive-in” venture seemed risky. But to the surprise of almost everyone except Martin and Mccarthy, it has proved to be highly successful, with some screenings drawing more customers than the first-run Hollywood films on the other three screens combined. Fans have included lifelong drive-in aficionados as well as “millennials” discovering the experience for the first time.
“The drive-in has always been that little piece of Americana that keeps hanging around, and it’s a joy introducing it to new people,” said Malco executive vice president Jimmy Tashie.
To enhance the experience, the Summer Quartet this year is getting what Tashie calls an overdue “sprucing up,” just in time for its half-century birthday — a milestone Mccarthy has dubbed “Fifty Years of Summer.”
Evidence of this rehab can be seen at the drive-in’s entrance on Summer Avenue, where a rotating 1973 yellow Volkswagen is now perched atop the venue’s sign. Additional plans call for much of the drive-in to be repaved, to make up for years of weather damage, and for the venue’s large metal screens to be re-coated with reflective paint, to